Layout Guide
For the writing style guide, see Manual of Style. This Layout Guide is an official guide to laying out a typical article. Feel free to discuss the Layout Guide on the talk page. Getting Started When starting an article, it is usually best to select the blank page template as many of the articles you will find and archive have wildly differing layouts, and this will grant you the most versatility when transcribing their content to the Archive Wiki. The name of the new archived article on the wiki should be the same as the name of the article on the source webpage. Sourcing Archived articles usually begin by linking to the original source article first. Normally this will be a simple matter if you are transferring content directly from a currently existing source. The method of doing this is through an external hyperlink given as follows: Original source This is simply the hyperlink of the source website, followed by the name of the hyperlink that you wish to use, all enclosed by square brackets. It will display as follows: Original source This should be followed by the date that you last accessed the original source, as: Original source. Accessed: dd/mm/yyyy Next should follow a brief sentence stating the date that the article was created, along with the author of the article. An example of a typical article would be: Original source. Accessed: dd/mm/yyyy Posted by John Smith on dd/mm/yyyy. Original Source no longer Exists In rare cases it may be that you have an article on a secondary site such as Google Cache or Wayback Machine, and the original webpage that contained the article no longer exists. If this is the case, state the hyperlink of the original source if at all possible along with the name of the site that it was on. Additionally, please also include the original author and date of posting if at all possible. For example: Original source - Defunct. Accessed: dd/mm/yyyy Original author: John Smith Date posted: dd/mm/yyyy Next, state the secondary source as follows: Secondary source. Accessed: dd/mm/yyyy Personal Records In some cases Archivers may have saved articles to their personal records. If this is the case, please follow the above section's guidelines as close as possible, omitting any mention of a secondary source. The Main Body With sourcing dealt with, it's time to begin backing up the article. As the main goal of this wiki is to preserve the original layout and content of the articles as best as possible, there is no standard layout. The layout to adhere to is given by whatever article it is that you are backing up. It is generally a case of copying and pasting the text from the source, however one should take care to preserve any italics, bolds and underlines that may be present in the original, along with any other text formatting. Effort does not need to be made to match the font type, font colour and font size of the overall original article (However be on the lookout for any subscripts, superscripts, individual words emphasized by colour or font size, etc). Additionally, effort should be made to preserve any hyperlinks included within the main body of text. It also goes without saying that paragraphing should likewise be maintained, as should any present subheadings. Any relevant images within the source article should be included if possible. Mark Up Guide Here is a brief explanation of the use and implementation of the most common coding elements that you are likely to need. They are most frequently either HTML or the Wiki mark up. Category:Help Category:Policy Verification All articles need to be verified as being legitimate. Until this occurs, they should have the verification template included at the top of the article before the source. Use: Articles can usually be verified by consensus. This is to ensure that the archived material is true to the source. Once the article is successfully cross referenced with the source, it receives the the verified template at the top. If the article cannot be cross referenced however, due to for example the source no longer being available for viewing on either the original site or on a secondary host, then the unverified template should be placed at the top instead of the verification template. Use: Categorization To ensure that users can easily find the material that they are looking for and explore the archives, pages should be appropriately categorized. To add a category to a page, scroll down to the bottom of the page to where it says "Category" and select "Add Category". Enter the name of the category tag, making sure to observe capitalization as they are case sensitive. Once entered, press the enter key on your keyboard. Once all the relevant tags have been entered in this way, select the save button to save the categories. By Time Period The most important categorization is the time frame under which the article was created with respect to the history of the Halo franchise. In other words, in which era of the Halo franchise was the article created under? The eras are divided up by the release dates of the games (With the exception of Halo Wars), and must be included with every article created. Even if no date is given in the original article, a rough estimate of the time period should be possible from the context of the article. They are as follows: Pre-Halo:CE Era Halo:CE Era Halo 2 Era Halo 3 Era Halo 3 ODST Era Halo Reach Era Halo 4 Era By Faction Articles can also be further categorized according to which of the main factions of the Halo universe that its content mostly addresses. For example, the Halo Graphic Novel Interview discusses stories involving the UNSC, Flood and Covenant therefore it can be categorized using those three factions. The Covenant Primer however only discusses the Covenant, so would only use the Covenant category tag. The faction category tags in use currently are: UNSC Covenant Flood Forerunners Other Categories If your article is an interview with a Bungie/343i Employee or some other Halo franchise affiliate, then it is best that you also include the "Interview" tag too. Articles that contain fiction material should contain the "Fiction" tag too. If there is multiplayer related information then it might also be best to include the relevant multiplayer tag, which contains the name of the game which the multiplayer section of the article addresses, such as "Halo 2 Multiplayer", "Halo 3 Multiplayer", "Halo 4 Multiplayer", etc. Additionally, tags relating to common item names could also be included where appropriate. For example, an article discussing a specific weapon could have the general item name "Weapons" tag, whereas articles containing information on a specific map pack could have the general "Map Pack" tag. Category:Help Category:Policy